Untitled - Monoskop

THE PAPACY
Henry VIII, and the Dauphin of France, 'cum priuilegio a rege indulto, ne
quis hanc orationem intra biennium in regno Angliae imprimat, aut alibi
impressam et importatam in codem 1
regno Angliae vendat'. This seems to be
the first English royal privilege.
THE PAPACY
Privileges were naturally valid only within the jurisdiction of the authority /\
which granted them. The area within which a privilege was effective, even in
principle, might thus be relatively small. At first sight therefore it may seem
strange that a privilege should be sought at all from the duke of Milan or
from the king of England when printers throughout the rest of Europe were
free to reprint the books which it purported to protect. In some cases clearly
the greatest danger from unauthorised reprints came from printers in the
same state, in the same town or even in the same street. Works of great local
interest, such as the history of Venice by Sabcllicus, or the chronicle of
Milan by Bossius, would be most in demand in the place itself and
accordingly offer the greatest temptation to printers there. Even if printers
outside that area were free to reprint the book, booksellers within the area
were not free to put such an edition on sale. Pynson's privilege for Tunstall's
Oratio did not stop Froben from reprinting it almost at once in Basle 2 and
selling it where he wished on the continent, but Pynson could prosecute
anyone attempting to import Froben's edition into England. In the intensely
competitive book-trade of Italy, where between 1500 and 1520 there were
sixty-five presses in Venice and twenty-one both in Rome and Milan, for
instance, a privilege was of real significance which banned any other edition
throughout the whole duchy of Milan, a wealthy, populous and largely
industrialised territory including towns like Brescia, Pavia and Cremona.
Still, the author and publisher of a book of general interest might have their
eye on possible profits to be made further afield. Printing in the first twenty
years of the sixteenth century was going on in forty-nine different places in
Italy. 3
A prudent and far-sighted author might attempt to prevent his new book
from being pirated in these circumstances by extending his privilege coverage
beyond the state in which he or his publisher resided. A notable example here
is that of Ariosto, with his completed magnum opus, the Orlando Furioso, ready to
be printed by Mazocco at Ferrara in 1516, and destined - as he and his printer
probably guessed to enjoy tremendous success. In a determined attempt to
forestall the pirates, and to keep control himself over the printing and sales of
1 The
summary of the privilege is printed at the end (f.B
6 r
), incorporated in the colophon.
London, 1518, 4". Bodl. 4". T.ao(i) Th. Seld. (STC 24320).
2
TunstaUJnlaudemmatrimoniioratio (Basle, 15 19), 4". For Pynson's privilege, see above, pp. 10-1 1.
:i
Norton, Italian printers, passim.
I I